Jumping Flash Review

How high can you get?

Get ready for the the wackiest, most creative, zany, blow you out of your chair adventure since Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Jumping Flash is one of those games that every time you pop it into your playstation, all you can say is WOW! This game has done something totally original, and so has created somthing totally unique. Jumping flash combines elements of action and adventure games to bring you one of the best games out there.

The story so far...... The evil Baron Aloha is stealing the Earth one chunk at a time, and turning it all into huge resorts. Needless to say the inhabitants of Earth are none to happy with this, and have dispatched their protector Robbit the super de-pester to take Aloha out! Robbit is a large mechanical rabbit that you can control, it is armed with unlimited ammunition, can receive super power ups, and is copiloted by Kumagoro who will keep you informed about dangerous situations.

So why is Jumping Flash unique?? Well, the theme of the game is not unlike your standard run-of-the-mill cute platform games like Super Mario Brothers or Sonic the Hedgehog, only instead of being side-scrolled this game is all first person and you fight through a 3-D world. The game consists of 5 worlds each with three levels one of which includes a final boss. The object of each level is obtain jet pods to stop the bad guys from stealing the Earth. The worlds are all themed after locations from around the Earth, and are all breath-taking. Players will travel through the desert, inside a pyramid, through the arctic, and to major cities.

Obtaining the jetpods on all of these worlds takes some skill. The jetpods are hidden in very remote places that are very high off the ground. This poses little problem to a mechanical rabbit. Robbit has the ability to perform a triple jump which can reach almost any height. This gives the players a huge advantage over all enemies. If you are being fired upon from an enemy simply pull a triple jump and blast him from the air. Getting your butt kicked from a boss? No problem, just pull a triple jump and see if he can catch you. This jumping ability makes the game way to easy. The only level that players should lose any lives is in the pyramid level, where the tight corridors don't permit the jumping.

The graphics are stunning!!! Each world is littered with buildings and artifacts form their respective location on the Earth. The real beauty of the graphics comes out when facing the final bosses, take time out to admire the backgrounds. Perhaps the most amazing eye candy is the final confrontation where you get to see..... well play the game and see for your self!

The music pleases as well, in fact I was disappointed by the inability to change CD tracks for each level. If players listen closely they may hear tunes from several popular movies. Another other great feature are the special weapons that are available. They are all named after fireworks: roman candles, bottle rockets, spinners, and the cherry bombs. All of these work great against standard enemies but are suprisingly ineffective against the bosses.

The only two complaints I have about Jumping Flash is the length of the game, and the ease of it... fighting the bosses is not even a real challenge. All you have to do is jump above them and keep firing down. As for the length of the game, well we've seen this before. Twisted Metal, Warhawk, and Wipeout were also too short. Why is it that the good ones are always skimpy? Good new for the future though: Jumping Flash 2 is in the works and should correct both of these flaws.